Aidan:Urgh. Could someone give me a timeline on WTF happened in TFA? It's all backwards and forwards and in bits and pieces.

Bo Xilai was a rising star in China, the son of one of the elders of the Communist Party who came up as a mayor, then provincial governor, then Member of Congress and head of the Party in his region. He was outspoken a bit of a showboat by the standards of Chinese politics. He is also part of the New Left who favor slowing down capitalism and going back to more Maoist socialism.

Neil Heywood was a British businessman, and close associate of Bo's family, who facilitated business dealings between western companies and ranking Chinese. He may have been having an affair with Bo's wife Gu Kailai, but he was definitely closely involved in business with her. Last November, Neil turned up dead in his hotel room. It was initially ruled that Heywood had died of an overdose of alcohol, even though those who knew him said he wasn't a drinker, but it was later decided he'd been poisoned.

Wang Lijun was the police chief in Bo's district. The relationship between them was already strained when Wang confronted Bo over Heywood's death, claiming evidence pointed to Bo's wife Gu having poisoned him. Bo allowed an investigation to proceed then did everything he could to impede it. Wang got demoted, and fearing that Bo planned to have him killed, went to the American consulate with reported evidence of the murder asking for asylum. Wang was denied asylum and whisked of by Chinese authorities to Beijing.

With everything going down do publicly, Bo was dismissed from his Party post and publicly denounced in a press conference by Premier Wen Jiabao. Negative reactions and charges of character assassination were strong and widespread from the Chinese left, and officials have been shutting down a lot of outlets that are exposing some deep divisions in Chinese politics.

Gu was investigated for Heywood's death, and was detained in April. On July 26 she was formally charged with the murder, and on August 9 there was a one day trial where she admitted to poisoning him. She has not yet been sentenced. According to some accounts, Heywood was demanding $22 million from Bo and Gu over a failed business venture. He may have threatened to expose some shady business dealings, and there may have been threats involving their son who is going to school in the UK (Heywood helped get their son into a good school there). Gu supposedly killed Heywood to deal with the problem, and may have asked for Wang's help in covering it up.